School districts prefer skilled teachers to savings

[Bozita]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100919/NEWS05/9190529/1318/Schools-go-for-experienced-teachers&template=fullarticle

POSTED: SEPT. 19, 2010

School districts prefer skilled teachers to savings
State's idea to to save money isn't going according to plan
BY PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER


Metro Detroit school districts are not expected to save as much money as anticipated when the state offered incentives for experienced teachers to retire early.

About 17,000 teachers statewide left their classrooms, making way — many thought — for newer teachers at lower salaries to help balance school budgets.

Districts were flooded with applications — 5,000 for 100 jobs in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and 2,000 for 40 jobs in Wayne-Westland Community Schools.

But many districts chose to hire based on experience rather than offer jobs to new college graduates, who would be paid at the bottom of the salary scale.

-snip-

When the state convinced 17,000 teachers to take early retirement during the summer, it was widely assumed that those teachers would be replaced by entry-level ones to save money and help ease school financial woes.

But only two of the 15 large school districts polled by the Free Press did so. The others hired teachers more like Milam, with years of classroom experience, saying that skill level was more important than the money they would save in salary compensation.

The retirement incentive offered teachers with 30 or more years of experience an increase in their pension if they retired in June. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and legislators pushed the plan as a way to help offset a shortfall in the education budget -- and open the doors for entry-level teachers.

Michigan's teachers union opposed the plan, saying districts wouldn't save as much as the state suggested.

"I hate to do 'I told you so,' but this is one of those cases where the Legislature was told this wasn't going to work, they did it anyway, and it's not working as well as it could have," said Doug Pratt, spokesman for the Michigan Education Association.

-snip-

more...

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. It's good news

Glad to see that.

Can teachers in Michigan retire from one district and go teach in another while drawing retirement? Some do that here and make pretty good money.

[Bozita]

3. iirc, there's an earnings ceiling for retirees drawing pension while continuing to work in MI school

I think it's about $10,000.

The retiree's pension would not be affected by employment at private schools or public schools in other states.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Here the ceiling only applies to working for schools in the same retirement system

But you can work in a different retirement system and draw a full salary.

There are several different retirement systems in the state. The largest doesn't pay into social security. So teachers who retire from that system come to work in systems that DO pay SS so they can collect a SS check when they are eligible.

[Bozita]

7. Same here, but all MI public school districts are part of the same retirement system.

A few years back, Detroit had its own retirement system. No more.

Just one now, MPSERS (Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System).

[RayOfHope]

4. But it has to be a private school or in another state though. And superintendents can't do that

at all anymore. My father in law is a superintendent. He retired in MO several years ago and now works as a superintendent in a neighboring state. A year or two after he did that, PSRS said superintendents couldn't do that anymore.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. MO teachers retire from one district and work in another all the time

KC and St Louis have separate retirement systems. So KC teachers can retire from KC, draw their pensions and get a full salary in any other district in the state. I know several doing exactly this right now. If you retire from one of the MO state retirement districts, you can retire, draw your pension and come to work in KC or St Louis.

[malletgirl02]

2. Skilled Teachers

Skilled teachers save money in the in the long run.

[AlecBGreen]

8. yup

Im in my 5th year teaching and Im just now getting to the point where everything clicks along. Not where I want to be but much MUCH better than when I first started. I had to develop my own lesson plans so that took about 3-4 years. Plus, the biggest issue for me was and is classroom management. Trying to educate 25 teenagers is near impossible if one or two decide they dont want any part of it.

My state test scores have gone up about 5% per year. I am now ALMOST to where I and the school district want me to be (90%+ pass rate). If they had hired a more experienced teacher from the get-go, they would have met their goals almost immediately. As it were, they saved a few thousand dollars but set themselves back 5 years. Im GLAD they hired me(!) but from a "lets-meet-our-goals-ASAP" perspective, they might have been better off with a more experienced teacher.

Long story short, you dont always benefit by hiring the cheapest help you can get.